RE-DESIGNING MANUFACTURING AREAS DEDICATED TO HEAVY AND VOLUMINOUS PRODUCTS

The Assembly Line Balancing Problem (ALBP) consists in assigning tasks to operators engaged on a line in such a way that the final item is produced according to a pre-determined production rate and by optimizing pre-defined objective functions. In the literature, a wide range of algorithms claiming to solve ALBP are found, however almost all of them consider this problem from a mathematical standpoint, thus disregarding details which are useful for ensuring the correct implementation of proposed solutions in real-life environments. Authors have gradually narrowed the gap between theory and practice by introducing stochastic operating times when manual operations are executed, or by describing more and more complex versions of the problem, usually known by the term GALBP (Generalized Assembly Line Balancing Problem), where a wide variety of objective functions and constraints are managed. By researching such an area, this paper will investigate the case of redesigning a manufacturing area dedicated to the production of heavy and voluminous items by highlighting the characteristics and peculiarities of the problem. Finally, a real-life case study is solved.